Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:62-66, Luke 23:54-56, Isaiah 53:8-12
There is something so breath-taking about sunsets. Would you agree? A sunset has the ability to capture the day’s narrative with silky, smokey-sorbet colored lines in the sky. Or maybe you favor sunrises. How darkness gives way to dawn, singing awake every living thing with the promise of God’s magnificent mercies, never failing and always new.
But do we marvel and consider beautiful the time in-between the sun setting and sun rising? Do we consider it set apart and worth beholding? Not blazing with exquisite colors, but the steady sacredness of mundane, constant, and ordinary—the life in between.
Life in the in-between is where we find ourselves in today’s reading. It’s Holy Saturday, the shadowy time in between the Son entering the tomb and being raised on Resurrection Sunday. Today’s solemn in-between doesn’t appear beautiful. It doesn’t feel holy and sacred. It’s the day after a gruesome tragedy, quiet with shock, hazy with clouds of grief. The long-awaited, now crucified Messiah lay in a borrowed tomb with a stone rolled over it.
Imagine for a moment how His followers and disciples must have felt in the raw in-between. From their perspective, everything was dark. They could not see the resurrection hope peaking above the horizon. Fearful and confused, in the grip of grief while holding on to a vague hope, they may have wondered, Was following Jesus worth it? Did I waste these years? What was this for?
And yet, in the midst of their questions and lament, Scripture tells us,
“The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55–56).
They rested. They didn’t busy the silence of heartache away, they honored what was sacred in the uncertain in-between.
What about you and me? Do we rest amid the doubts, the questions, the waiting and uncertainity? Do we rest in the in-between, when we can’t yet see hope rising from the darkness––the anxiety, depression, loss, illness, loneliness––that has set in our lives?
To rest reminds us that the coming light doesn’t rest on us. It’s the invitation of our text today. And it’s an invitation for the confused and fully convinced, for the doubtful and determined, for the wanderer and the wanting. It’s an invitation for you and for me, to fully live in the in-between, even if our hope feels but vague. Because even a vague hope can lead us to rest.
So as we wait to behold history’s most glorious Son rise tomorrow, I pray we don’t miss the opportunity to marvel in the holy in-between.
Written by Oghosa Iyamu
Yet God who is rich in mercy has a purpose in all things. The Sabbath was given to us as a gift and what a gift it would have been for Jesus’s followers who were up all night, experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety, and deep painful grief. Thank you God for rest. Even when it is hard to pause you see our need and you provide it.
Thank you Churchmouse for your reminder that a lot can happen in 3 days! I always look forward to your comments and insights. Prayers for your healing and complete recovery. Happy Resurrection Day She’s!
@Searching in agreement with your prayer. By God’s mercy may they(all the lost, all those that hate God, all that think they don’t need Him, all that are deceived by lies, false religions, or think they are saved, but aren’t) would encounter Him and hear truth and see the Truth and not be able to deny anymore. I pray that God would replace depraved minds with a mind to see our many sins, see Him rightly, and see ourselves rightly. I pray that all would see our depravity and our need to be rescued and saved and see that He is Holy. Instead of excuses or hate to and at God that true repentance would come and that each would have a renewed mind that hates what God hates and loves what He loves. I pray in His mercy that the desires to do, say, and think sinful things would be gone. I pray that the fear and reverence of God and the astonishment of who Jesus is and His sacrifice(His physical torture, the mocking, the denial, betrayal, abandonment were horrifying, but just to fathom that He drank the full cup of God’s wrath is beyond any human torture) would lead to all serving Him until we are called home. Amen
Thank you, Michelle Patire, for asking about me. Praying for you and your sister. Sadly, my procedure was cancelled due to a mix up at the office for when this time sensitive test should occur. A lot of frustration on my part because it means another month of waiting in my own “in between” as this procedure could result in a need for surgery or give the green light for an IVF transfer. Praying for God’s guidance and wisdom for all of us “she’s” as well as our hearts through this Holy Saturday.
Thank you Lord JESUS Christ!!! Amen!!!
So incredible to think of the in between the disciples felt today, the true weight of the absence of their leader was heavy on them today. They had followed him for three ish years and now just like that, gone. And yet— only a few more hours until the tomb will be empty and he will appear. They cannot cling to him though, because he hasn’t ascended to the father yet. I’m getting ahead of myself BUT I am just so thankful for the time in which and the perspective we have been blessed with. It is amazing to put ourselves in the disciples place yesterday and today. Trying to keep my excitement flutters at bay when thinking of the sadness they felt today.
Hope in the waiting. You are the hope Jesus. Amen
I think most of the Pharisees and the Romans were afraid the disciples would steal His body to fake something, leading to what they considered to be ongoing “false teaching” and group/mob mentality, disturbing the peace…